Joe Paterno: Onslaught of Legacy-Destroying Allegations Gains Momentum

Joe Paterno's legacy is irrevocably sinking faster by the second.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a story centering on the interactions with Penn State's former chief disciplinarian Vicky Triponey and Joe Paterno. The story paints the picture of a coach who is willing to go to great lengths to place the overall health of his football program above justice, and a university that is willing to back Paterno in those efforts. 

Highlights of the WSJ's Story

The WSJ obtained several emails from Triponey, former Penn State AD Tim Curley and former university president Graham Spanier. The emails obtained center on Triponey's frustrations with the treatment of football players and her inability to discipline them.

The WSJ also talked to various sources with knowledge of the situation. Here are the highlights from their report.

• In the spring of 2005, Triponey suspended two Penn State players. Curley told Triponey in an email that Paterno was "frustrated" because the players couldn't participate in summer practice.

• On August 11th, 2005, Triponey, at the urging of Spanier, met with Paterno, Curley, assistant athletic Director Fran Ganter and her assistant Joe Puzycki. The WSJ reports that "according to two people knowledgeable about the meeting, Mr. Paterno loudly criticized Dr. Triponey at the meeting for meddling."

• The following is an excerpt from an email Triponey sent to Spanier and others on August 12th, 2005:

"

[Mr. Paterno believes I should have] no interest (or business) holding our football players accountable to our community standards. The Coach is insistent he knows best how to discipline his players…and their status as a student when they commit violations of our standards should NOT be our concern…and I think he was saying we should treat football players different from other students in this regard.

Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code despite any moral or legal obligation to do so.

The calls and pleas from coaches, Board members, and others when we are considering a case are, indeed, putting us in a position that does treat football players differently and with greater privilege.

"

• She ended her note asking if Curley and Spanier if, in their opinion, that was an accurate assessment of Paterno's stance. Spanier replied, "I think you assessment is accurate."

• In the fall of 2005, Triponey's office suspended LB Dan Connor for allegations he had been making threatening calls to a retired assistant coach. Paterno was not pleased. The incident resulted in Spanier visiting Triponey. WSJ reports this from that meeting:

"

Dr. Triponey confirms he told her that Mr. Paterno had given him an ultimatum: Fire her, or Mr. Paterno would stop fundraising for the school. She says Mr. Spanier told her that if forced to choose, he would choose her over the coach—but that he did not want to have to make that choice.

"

• In 2007, six PSU football players faced criminal charges for an incident that third-year criminal justice major John Britt described as, "Pretty much the entire Penn State defense broke in and started swinging bar stools and stuff." The incident was said to involve as many as two dozen PSU players. Britt alleged that someone hit him over the back of the head with a beer bottle and players continued to beat him while he was unconscious.

• Triponey conducted an investigation on the issue. According to a source of the WSJ, she complained the players were not talking to her, and she urged Paterno to get his players to be truthful.

• Here is an alleged overview of Paterno's response. WSJ:

"

Mr. Paterno angrily responded that his players couldn't be expected to cooperate with the school's disciplinary process because, in this case, they would have to testify against each other, making it hard to play football together, these people say.

"

Conclusion

Given the attained copy of the emails and the sources, this is a very credible report. It is hard to come away from this story with any conclusion other than that of Paterno going to all costs to protect his football team.

Paterno appears to be a megalomaniac that had near-total control of the university by which he was employed. Other university employees could either relent to Paterno's demands or be out of a job.

The former coach seemed to hold the mentality that issues should be handled by him, and that what happens with his football team is not for public consumption. 

That attitude is apparent in this quote relayed by the WSJ that Paterno made in 2004 to the Allentown Morning Call newspaper. Paterno:

"

I can go back to a couple guys in the '70s who drove me nuts. The cops would call me, and I used to put them in bed in my house and run their rear ends off the next day. Nobody knew about it. That's the way we handled it.

"

This story, and this evidence, does Paterno no favors in the court of public opinion as many people assault him over his alleged cover-up involving Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno held the mentality that even heinous accusation of criminal offenses be handled silently and in-house.

This story promotes the idea of a petulant coach acting like a dictator over a university that will give him what he wants because of the money he is bringing in.

These issues are exactly what is at the root of what has cost Paterno his job and reputation and ripped apart a university concerning the Sandusky scandal.

At this point, it is hard to imagine anything that Paterno or his lawyers could do or say to reverse the course of his sinking legacy. The evidence is mounting, and it is not likely Triponey is the last to come forward with this kind of accounting of Paterno.